Richard A. Whiting(1891-1938)

Richard A. Whiting was born in Peoria Illinois to a very musical family. After attending Harvard Military Academy Whiting went on to have a long song writing career. In the teens and early 20's Whiting wrote such hits as "Ain't We Got Fun?," "Till We Meet Again," "The Japanese Sandman," "Sleepy Time Gal," and "She's Funny That Way." Whiting's daughter Margaret Whiting the singer was born in 1924 and was the inspiration for his classic song "On the Good Ship Lollipop." Starting in 1929 Whiting went to Hollywood to write songs and scores for films he and his then songwriting partner Leo Robin began with such films as "The Dance of Life" and "Innocence of Paris" from these there were two hits the first being "True Blue Lou" the second being the long time standard and classic "Louise." Throughout the early 1930's Whiting wrote for films and made numerous hits such as "Guilty," "On the Good Ship Lollipop," "My Ideal," "My Future Just Passed," "Eadie Was A Lady," and "You're An Old Smoothie." In 1931 Whiting's second daughter Barbara Whiting the actress was born she was not able to really know her father all that well due to the fact that he died when she only 6. In the late 1930's beginning in 1936 Whiting and Johnny Mercer began a song writing partnership and friendship. They wrote for the films "Ready, Willing, and Able" from which the hit "Too Marvelous for Words" was written, "Varsity Show" from which the classics "Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?" and "You've Got Something There" originated. Whiting and Mercer's most successful film was "Hollywood Hotel" which brought us the uncredited theme song of Hollywood, "Hooray for Hollywood." Other hit songs from that film include: "I'm Like A Fish Out of Water," "I've Hitched My Wagon To a Star," and "Silhouetted in the Moonlight" The songwriters last film together was "The Cowboy From Brooklyn" which brought us only one his song, "Ride, Tenderfoot Ride." Whiting died on February 10th 1938 due to heart disease.